Seven companies, including Taiwan's four incumbent 3G operators and an affiliate of Foxconn parent Hon Hai, have applied to take part in the nation's 4G auction.
The companies will be competing for a block of the 270 MHz of available spectrum on the 700-MHz, 900-MHz and 1800-MHz bands.
Allocations will be capped at 70 MHz each, but competition is still expected to be intense.
Established mobile operators Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan Mobile, Far EasTone and Asia Pacific Telecom have all applied to take part, according to regulator NCC.
The Hon Hai affiliate is Ambit Microsystems, which mostly manufactures communication network products, DSL gateways, wireless modules and PC components.
The remaining applicants are telecom companies newly set up by Taiwanese conglomerates Ting Hsin International Group and Shinkong Group respectively.
Regulator NCC has revealed plans to complete a preliminary screening of the applicants by the end of August, and commence the bidding process in September.
The NCC in May set the base price for the LTE auction at NT$35.9 billion ($1.19 billion). The regulator tentatively plans to allocate the licenses in December.
While some Wimax operators had reportedly been considering taking part in the auction, and Taiwan is expected to transition from Wimax to LTE as its defacto 4G standard, none have made it to the final approach.